History IHaveYourWife / Literature

* In the book, play and movie ''Literature/TheDesperateHours'', three escaped cons take the protagonist's family hostage in their own home.
* It happens in a quite interesting way in ''Literature/TheDevilToPayInTheBacklands'', because it's the [[AntiHero heroes]] who kidnap [[DevilInPlainSight Hermógenes's]] wife to use her as bait. Eventually, she [[BadassAdorable becomes Diadorim's friend]].
* Literature/DocSavage gives this as the reason why he doesn't form relationships. That hasn't stopped people from speculating that the 1930s hero has [[HoYay other reasons...]].

* Lieutenant Vulpes forces Mehitabel to spy for the Bastion by threatening her lover Hallam Bellamy with torture in ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths''.
* This is why Wellington Yueh betrays the Atreides in ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', with a twist: the Harkonnens have Yueh's wife Wanna, and they are torturing her. Constantly. Yueh's deal with the Baron is that the Baron will ''kill'' Wanna, putting an end to her miserable existence. [[spoiler:This is why Yueh also sacrifices his life to assassinate the Baron; the plan fails, but it's kind of sweet.]]
* In the ''Literature/{{Elenium}}'' trilogy by Creator/DavidEddings, one of Sparhawk's brother knights confesses to trying to murder him repeatedly. He explains that the BigBad has effectively worked a kind of DemonicPossession on the woman whom the knight loves, and is forcing his cooperation in this way. [[spoiler:When the woman figures out what's going on, she kills herself to save him, and the knight does likewise, making the confession on his deathbed.]]

* In ''Literature/TheFangsOfKaath 2: Guardians of Light'', the villain Tzu-Khan has the good Shah Raschid's wives kidnapped. With them in his clutches, he makes contact to the Raschid through a magic mirror about how he intends to have them horrifically [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] and yet [[AndIMustScream unable to die]] unless the Shah surrenders. However, the heroic wives break free just long enough to reveal the location of the villain's army and instruct their husband both to break his mirror to cut off contact for more threats, and "Kill the bastards!" Well aware of what his wives are sacrificing sending that message, Raschid wastes no time to honor those demands. Fortunately, a combination of cunning and ThePowerOfFriendship allows the wives to not only individually escape, but to join the fight against the villain.

* The premise of Creator/DeanKoontz's novel ''Literature/TheHusband''. "We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash."
* The ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy has this, complete with a formal note - though in this case the wife is a badass winner of the SuperpowerLottery.

* ''Literature/KnownSpace'': After Jason manages to escape the Kzinti in "The Soft Weapon", they try to force him to bargain by threatening to eat his wife, who remains their prisoner, on limb at a time, with medical treatment in between to make sure that she doesn't die of shock while they work her over. When they capture him, they start the process right up in front of him.

* Near the end of the fifth book in the ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series, [[AntiVillain RuGaard]] is ousted as [[TheEmperor Tyr]] in a coup and sent into [[TheExile exile]]. To ensure that he stays gone, the plotters take his mate Nilrasha hostage, threatening to execute her if he ever enters their territory again.

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the villains kidnap a husband in order to invoke this trope. However, [[spoiler:it fails, as one of his wives has infiltrated the lower-class criminals hired to do the job. So it is more of a "your sister has her husband, and we are trying to get them both."]]
* In ''Literature/CityOfFallenAngels'', [[spoiler:Lilith]] tells Simon that [[spoiler:she]] has his girlfriend. Due to the fact that he [[spoiler:had just broken up with Maia and Isabelle]], he does nothing, assuming that it's an empty threat, until he discovers that [[spoiler:Maureen has been killed due to her crush on him]].
* High Lord Kalarus in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' likes this tactic. When he rebels against Gaius, he kidnaps the High Lady Placida and other loved ones of important nobles in order to insure that they stay neutral in the civil war. He even took Rook's, his own chief spy and assassin, daughter hostage to ensure her cooperation and locked her in the same room as Placida. Placida is a PersonOfMassDestruction in her own right so she probably could have escaped on her own, but Kalarus set the security systems to go for the kid first if she tried to escape, since he knew that she would not sacrifice a child for her own freedom.

* In ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', Jarvis says that he and his siblings only worked for R.A.T.S. because the NebulousEvilOrganization was holding their parents hostage. [[spoiler:At least, that's what R.A.T.S. told them. In reality, Jarvis' parents had already been killed for refusing to join.]]

* In ''Literature/NightOverWater'' by Ken Follett, Eddie the mechanic must help hijack the airship because the bad guys are holding his pregnant wife hostage.
* Subverted in ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen''. PsychoForHire Anton Chigurh figures out where Llewelyn's hiding his wife, and offers to spare her if Llewelyn hands over the money and sacrifices himself. [[spoiler:Llewelyn refuses and plans to ambush him instead, leading to him getting KilledOffscreen by the Mexicans and Anton making good on his promise to kill his wife due to his [[AxCrazy insane]] BecauseDestinySaysSo ideology.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Relativity}}'', August Moon captures Ravenswood's wife, Melody. Unfortunately for Moon, Melody's a good fighter. He finally manages to subdue her, but he's still in a foul mood about it when Ravenswood shows up to rescue her.
* In ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'', Chauvelin gets Marguerite to help him because he has taken her brother, Armand.
** In one of the sequels, ''Eldorado'', Armand betrays the Pimpernel to Chauvelin in exchange for the freedom of Armand's lover, Jeanne L'Ange, who had been arrested for helping him elude capture; ironically, the Pimpernel [[spoiler:has already freed Jeanne from prison]].

* In the ''Literature/{{Tempest}}'' series, Tempest's two love interests are the selkie prince Kona and the human Mark. In ''Tempest Unleashed'', [[BigBad Tiamat]]'s goons kill most of the selkie royal family, kidnap Kona, and leave a note [[CouldntFindAPen in his blood]] that says, "The new selkie king requests your presence at the Sahul Shelf." They also kidnap Mark and keep him chained up next to Kona with an oxygen tank on the ocean floor. The idea is to use Kona as bait, then use Mark to surprise Tempest so she won't fight as well.

* In ''The Tombs'' by Creator/CliveCussler and Thomas Perry, this is attempted. [[spoiler:It fails miserably. The husband, Sam Fargo, mounts a rescue while his wife Remi plots a daring escape. For good measure, they set fire to the kidnapper's house on the way out.]]

* In the book, play and movie ''The Desperate Hours'', three escaped cons take the protagonist's family hostage in their own home.

* The premise of Creator/DeanKoontz's novel ''The Husband''. "We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash."

* In ''Night Over Water'' by Ken Follett, Eddie the mechanic must help hijack the airship because the bad guys are holding his pregnant wife hostage.

* The third ''Soldiers of Barrabas'' (a HeroesRUs series by Gold Eagle) novel had enemies of Nile Barrabas from his Vietnam days kidnapping his girlfriend and saying "You've got 48 hours before we kill her. [[BringIt Come and get her]]." The BigBad thinks his jungle fortress surrounded by booby traps and ambushes will take care of Barrabas and his men, but they kill an ambush squad and infiltrate up their hidden retreat path, which is free of booby traps. Even so the girlfriend only escapes with her life because TheDragon doesn't execute her as ordered, knowing Barrabas would spend the rest of his life hunting him down.

* Very common practice in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', with [[GreyAndGrayMorality both heroes and villains doing this and often for similar reasons]]. Families often send children off to live with other families as wards or squires, but this requires coercion or a huge amount of trust. Some people get KickedUpstairs where they can be watched, like Harys Swift, [[spoiler:whom Cersei named Hand of the King]]. Some people are unable or unwilling to negotiate for their loved ones because the terms of release are too demanding (at least to them) or they don't actually care about that person. In other cases, the party holding the hostage has no intention of letting them go regardless. [[TruthInTelevision This reflects real life medieval]] {{Realpolitik}}.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' novel ''The Last Days of Krypton'', the villain kidnaps the hero's wife. It's a two-for-one hostage since his wife is '''pregnant'''.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, I Have Your [[DragonRider Captain]][[note]](either by imprisoning them on the ground or capturing them via boarding action[[/note]] is standard operating procedure in the West for capturing hostile dragons and keeping them under control as they will do a great deal to [[BondCreatures keep their]] [[ThisIsMyHuman human from harm]]. Of course this is hazardous as ''killing'' the captain [[BerserkButton has rather]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge the opposite effect]] and being too hamfisted with threats of harm can backfire.

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', James blackmails Bella to sneak away from the Cullens by pretending he has her mother as a hostage: in reality, he just played a recording of her voice over the phone.
* After Kasia (TheNotLoveInterest) is taken by the Wood and saved from it in ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'', Prince Marek orders Agnieszka and Sarkan to go on his fool's errand to save his decades-imprisoned mother from its deepest depths... otherwise he'll have Kasia executed under the law for TheCorruption. Then he brings her to the capital with the EmptyShell of a queen to keep up the threat, because proving the Queen is clear will save Kasia's life too.

* In the third book of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the BigBad Minty Mazata taunts Jay with this when she is arrested. It works - he [[RoaringRampageOfRescue storms off to save her.]]

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the villains kidnap a husband in order to invoke this trope. However, [[spoiler: it fails, as one of his wives has infiltrated the lower class criminals hired to do the job. So it is more of a "your sister has her husband, and we are trying to get them both."]]

* ''Literature/NightOfTheNecromancer'' have the sibling version, where the hero, the Warrior-Lord of Valsinore Castle, must save his younger sister, Orianna, who was captured to be sacrificed by the titular Necromancer in exchange for permanent immortality.

* In the ''Literature/{{Elenium}}'' trilogy by Creator/DavidEddings, one of Sparhawk's brother knights confesses to trying to murder him repeatedly. He explains that the BigBad has effectively worked a kind of DemonicPossession on the woman whom the knight loves, and is forcing his cooperation in this way. [[spoiler:When the woman figures out what's going on, she kills herself to save him, and the knight does likewise, making the confession on his deathbed.]]
** In the sequel trilogy ''Literature/TheTamuli'', the new BigBad sends TheDragon to kidnap Sparhawk's wife. Seeing as 1) Sparhawk has a handful of assorted gods who like him and are willing to help him out, and 2) there's nothing in the world he loves more than his wife, this can only be considered a Very Bad Idea in the long run.

* In ''Literature/{{Grunts}}'', Ashnak uses the threat their mother's life to "encourage" Will and Ned Braindiman to steal [[spoiler: nullity talismans from the Visible College]] for him.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' where President Snow kidnaps and tortures [[spoiler:Katniss's]] husband as one step in foiling the revolution. It's a pretty interesting example since [[spoiler:Katniss and Peeta aren't ''actually'' married, Peeta just claimed that they were married and pregnant in the hopes of gaining sympathy and sponsors for Katniss in the Quarter Quell. They are engaged, but that's kind of on the fake side too.]]
** What turns it into FridgeHorror is when she realizes that [[spoiler:Snow insisting that she convinces him that her feelings for Peeta are genuine had nothing to do with quelling the riots in Panem, as Katniss originally thought, and everything to do with this trope. Being no idiot, Snow knows that Peeta's value to him is in direct proportion to how much Katniss cares about him. Unfortunately for Peeta, Snow figures out that Katniss is in love with him before she herself realizes it.]]
** In a way this trope applies to all Hunger Games victors. Unless they stay in line and do whatever Snow asks of them (like prostituting themselves), their families will pay the price. [[spoiler:Johanna Mason]] and [[spoiler:Haymitch]] learned this the hard way.
** In the second book, President Snow kidnaps Finnick’s partner Annie and best friend Johanna (both fellow victors) when the arena gets blown up to keep him under his thumb. He does the same for Katniss with Peeta.
* Lieutenant Vulpes forces Mehitabel to spy for the Bastion by threatening her lover Hallam Bellamy with torture in ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths''.
* In ''The Tombs'' by Creator/CliveCussler and Thomas Perry, this is attempted. [[spoiler:It fails miserably. The husband, Sam Fargo, mounts a rescue while his wife Remi plots a daring escape. For good measure, they set fire to the kidnapper's house on the way out.]]
* In ''Literature/CityOfFallenAngels'', [[spoiler:Lilith]] tells Simon that [[spoiler:she]] has his girlfriend. Due to the fact that he [[spoiler:had just broken up with Maia and Isabelle,]] he does nothing, assuming that it's an empty threat, until he discovers that [[spoiler:Maureen has been killed due to her crush on him]].
* Very common practice in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', with [[GreyAndGrayMorality both heroes and villains doing this and often for similar reasons]]. Families often send children off to live with other families as wards or squires, but this requires coercion or a huge amount of trust. Some people get KickedUpstairs where they can be watched, like Harys Swift, [[spoiler:whom Cersei named Hand of the King]]. Some people are unable or unwilling to negotiate for their loved ones because the terms of release are too demanding (at least to them) or they don't actually care about that person. In other cases, the party holding the hostage has no intention of letting them go regardless. [[TruthInTelevision This reflects real life medieval]] {{Realpolitik}}.
** Daenerys takes children from many powerful families in Meereen, but grows fond of them and refuses to punish them for the crimes of their parents, which her advisors consider to rather defeat the point of the exercise.
** The Sons of the Harpy, [[LaResistance a group opposing Daenerys' conquest of Meereen]] [[spoiler: kidnap the nine year old daughter of a caterer, then force him to poison food that will be served to Daenerys, promising to return his daughter when Daenerys is dead. After the assassination attempt fails, the Sons return the girl's body cut into nine pieces]].
* In ''Literature/HalfBad'', Mercury uses Annalise as leverage to get Nathan to do what she wants.

* In ''Literature/{{Relativity}},'' August Moon captures Ravenswood's wife, Melody. Unfortunately for Moon, Melody's a good fighter. He finally manages to subdue her, but he's still in a foul mood about it when Ravenswood shows up to rescue her.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, I Have Your [[DragonRider Captain]][[note]](either by imprisoning them on the ground or capturing them via boarding action[[/note]] is standard operating procedure in the West for capturing hostile dragons and keeping them under control as they will do a great deal to [[BondCreatures keep their]] [[ThisIsMyHuman human from harm]]. Of course this is hazardous as ''killing'' the captain [[BerserkButton has rather]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge the opposite effect]] and being too hamfisted with threats of harm can backfire.
* The ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy has this, complete with a formal note - though in this case the wife is a badass winner of the SuperpowerLottery.
* ''Literature/AlexRider'': In ''Eagle Strike'', [[spoiler:Damian Cray]] kidnaps Sabina Pleasure to force Alex's cooperation and prevent him from going to [=MI6=] with the flash drive.
* Near the end of the fifth book in the ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series, [[AntiVillain RuGaard]] is ousted as [[TheEmperor Tyr]] in a coup and sent into [[TheExile exile]]. To ensure that he stays gone, the plotters take his mate Nilrasha hostage, threatening to execute her if he ever enters their territory again.
* In ''Literature/WhileTheClockChimes'', two weavers are ordered to prepare the fabric for new invisibility caps, which will be used for provoking a war with the neighboring kingdom. The weavers refuse adamantly – until the king tells them he holds their little sister captive. [[spoiler:Then they TakeAThirdOption and rescue their sister just before she is executed, exposing the king's lying nature to the populace on the way]].

* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Jai Long's is completely devoted to his DelicateAndSickly sister Jai Chen, so she gets taken hostage multiple times to force his cooperation. In the middle of his revenge against the Jai clan, Jai Long immediately gives up (under the assumption that he'll be executed) when he discovers that they captured his sister. Lindon also considers threatening her in order to get out of his impossible duel with Jai Long, but Yerin talks him out of it. Later, Lindon [[spoiler:instead heals Jai Chen of her disorder. While this doesn't get him out of the duel, it does save his life, as Jai Long refuses to kill the man who saved his sister]].
* In ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', Jarvis says that he and his siblings only worked for R.A.T.S. because the NebulousEvilOrganization was holding their parents hostage. [[spoiler:At least, that's what R.A.T.S. told them. In reality, Jarvis' parents had already been killed for refusing to join.]]
* ''Literature/TheOutside'': When ColdBloodedTorture fails to convince Yasira to [[spoiler:kill everyone affected by the Outside on Jai]], the angels abduct Yasira's girlfriend Tiv and threaten to hurt her even worse.

* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Jai Long's sister Jai Chen is an IllGirl who he is completely devoted to, so she gets taken hostage multiple times to force his cooperation. In the middle of his revenge against the Jai clan, Jai Long immediately gives up (under the assumption that he'll be executed) when he discovers that they captured his sister. Lindon also considers threatening her in order to get out of his impossible duel with Jai Long, but Yerin talks him out of it. Later, Lindon [[spoiler:instead heals Jai Chen of her disorder. While this doesn't get him out of the duel, it does save his life, as Jai Long refuses to kill the man who saved his sister]].

* Franchise/DocSavage gives this as the reason why he doesn't form relationships. That hasn't stopped people from speculating that the 1930s hero has [[HoYay other reasons...]].

* Gender flipped in ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Mockingjay]]'' where President Snow kidnaps and tortures [[spoiler:Katniss's]] husband as one step in foiling the revolution. It's a pretty interesting example since [[spoiler:Katniss and Peeta aren't ''actually'' married, Peeta just claimed that they were married and pregnant in the hopes of gaining sympathy and sponsors for Katniss in the Quarter Quell. They are engaged, but that's kind of on the fake side too.]]